Bedtime Stories - My fanfiction
By wolfpaws. Chapter one. Sleeping Booty. “For the last time! Go. To. BED!” Link said, carrying one child under his arm and pushing two others toward a bed in the corner of his house. One child was already sitting there obediently, watching his idol wrestle with the other village children. “But, Link-!” the only girl in the group, Beth, complained, “We’re not ready for bed!” “That’s too bad, because your parents gave me specific orders about when you’re supposed to go to bed! And you’ve already stalled for half an hour!” Link retorted, ignoring the pain in his leg as he hobbled them closer. With one final heave, Link managed to plop all three unruly children onto the mass of pillows, blankets and stuffed animals. They all gave despondent cries as they tumbled into a heap on the bed. “Oh come on Link! Please? We aren’t tired yet!” another of the children, Talo, persisted, “How can you not be tired? You’ve been running around my house for hours!” This statement was quite true, about half an hour ago he had managed to stuff all four children into their pajamas, and, although he could now not remember how he had accomplished it, scrubbed their teeth. But all this seemed easy now, even the last ordeal of getting them in bed, for how was he supposed to get them to fall asleep? And how? He wondered, had he gotten stuck with babysitting duty? Well, that was simple. Luck. Really bad luck. Currently, the kingdom was at war with a few angry giants, no one knew where they had come from, but they were angry, and very, very violent. Link had actually managed to kill one of them, but apparently, he had killed one of the other giants’ mates, and that enraged mate had sent Link flying across the field and crashing through the roof of Coro’s house in the Faron Woods. And the result of such a fall? Surprisingly, only a broken leg. But this still had rendered him unable to fight, and what is a job you can do when you’re injured? Why, babysitting of course! For it is the easiest thing to do! (Sarcasm!) That’s just because no one else wanted to do it! Link thought tiredly, plopping onto a chair that sat next to the bed. Sure, he liked children, but these children were being rowdy brats today, and after a full day of cooking, chasing and horseplay, Link was exhausted. “How about this? I’ll tell you a bedtime story if you promise not to get back out of bed or make too much fuss. Deal?” Link bartered, the three rowdy children all glanced at one another, “Deal!” they said in unison, finally settling on the bed, Link stood up and limped over to a bookshelf, he grabbed an armful of books and returned to the chair. He flipped through the stack and selected a book with a light blue cover and golden title. “What story is that?” Beth asked, laying down, resting her chin on her arms. “This one is called Sleeping Beauty.” Malo and Talo both sat bolt upright, then started laughing historically, Link put a finger to his lips and shushed them as he glanced over his shoulder, “SHHH! You’ll wake up Ilia!” Link scolded, Ilia, his girlfriend, had fallen asleep on the small loveseat in the living room about an hour before Link had even attempted to put the children to bed, “and what exactly was so funny?” Malo and Talo started to giggle again, “You said butt!” they both squealed, falling backward on the bed, “When did I say ‘butt’?” “You said Sleeping Booty!” Beth rolled her eyes, “He said Sleeping Beauty, genius’s!” “Hey!” “Alright, alright, do you want me to tell you the story or not?” “Yes please!” Link opened the book and cleared his throat, “Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was king and a queen who both desperately wanted a child, but for many years, they couldn’t-“ “Why couldn’t they?” Talo said, raising his hand in question, “Because sometimes…um…mommies and daddies just have a hard time having kids, even when they really want them.” Link said, his cheeks turning slightly red, “Why do they have trouble?” Malo continued, Oh dear! Link thought, he did not want to have this discussion with two eight-year-olds, a five-year-old and a three-year-old. He had to get them off of the subject. Quick! “Um…they just do sometimes…if you have any other questions, please save them for your own parents. Shall I continue?” “Uh-huh.” The children sighed, faces still puzzled by Link’s botched explanation of where babies come from. “Anyway, at long last a daughter was born, and they named her Selene, after the goddess of the moon-“ Link was again interrupted by the children, this time it was Malo, “But, But I thought there were only three goddesses, Farore, Din and Nayru, who’s Selene?” Link sighed, at this rate, it would be midnight before he got past the first page, “This book is from a different culture, and different cultures have different beliefs, while we only have three, some places may have as many a hundred gods that they believe in. may I continue?” The children nodded. “Ahem. To honor the princess, the king held a great feast. Nobles and peasants, knight and their lades-everyone flocked joyfully to the castle.” He continued with the story. “The king welcomed his good friend, king Hubert of a neighboring kingdom to the feast. King Hubert had brought his own young child, Prince Eric. The two kings decided then and there that their two children would one day be married.” “But that isn’t fair!” Beth interjected, raising herself onto her elbows and leaning forward, “What say should the two kings have in who their children marry?” “This was a long time ago. Back then, people were betrothed all the time.” “Among the guests of the feast, there were three good fairies. Each of these magical beings wished to bless the newborn princess with a gift. The first blessed her with the gift of beauty. The second blessed her the gift of song. But before the third could give her gift, the castle doors flew open and standing there, was the evil witch Maleficent. The witch was enraged that she had not been invited to the feast, and now she wanted revenge. ‘I, too, have a gift for the newborn babe’ she sneered, ‘she shall indeed grow in grace and beauty, but before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and die!’-“ Three out of four children gasped, utterly enthralled by the story now, while Talo sighed and looked out the window next to the bed. “With a cruel laugh, Maleficent vanished, and the entire throne room went quiet, but the third fairy still had her gift to give, and so she chanted over the princess: ‘If through this witch’s trick A spindle should you finger prick, Not in death, but just in sleep The fateful prophecy you shall keep, And from this slumber you shall wake, When true love’s kiss the spell shall break.’ The king ordered that every spinning wheel in the kingdom be burned, but he still feared for his daughter’s life-“ Colin, for the first time, raised his hand, “Yes, Colin?” Link asked, “Um, if they burned every spinning wheel in the kingdom, how did they make clothes? Did they just run around nude?” “Actually, they imported clothing from a neighboring kingdom, it was very expensive, and a lot of peasants could barely afford one outfit, so often, a family would share.” Link made this part up, “Share?” “Yes, share. They could only afford one outfit, so only one person could where it at a time, so only one person went outside at a time.” “Really?” “Yep.” “The three good fairies hatched a plan, they would take Princess Selene to live with them deep in the forest, safe from Maleficent, and so they did. To protect their secret, the three fairies disguised themselves as peasant women and changed the princess’s name to Primrose. The years passed by, and Primrose grew into a beautiful young woman. Finally, on Primrose’s sixteenth birthday, she was sent to pick berries. There she met a handsome stranger-“ “Oooh! What did the handsome stranger look like?” Beth cooed, Link sighed, “Brown hair, simple tunic, gray eyes.” Link made up, “That doesn’t sound very handsome!” “Well he was handsome to Primrose. Can I continue?” “Yes, but I still don’t think the stranger is handsome.” “Primrose fell in love with the stranger, and promised to meet him again the next day before she took her leave and went home, there she was surprised by the three fairies with a cake and a new gown. But then, Primrose told them that she was in love, it was then that they had to tell her the truth-that she was a princess, a princess who was already betrothed, and that she could never be with her handsome stranger. The princess was then led away to the castle, but when the fairies left her in her new room, Maleficent lured Selene to the top of a tall tower. There, a spinning wheel stood. ‘Touch the spindle!’ Maleficent hissed, ‘Touch it, I say! The three fairies rushed to Selene’s rescue, but they were too late, Selene had touched the spindle and instantly fallen into a deep, deep sleep. With a harsh laugh, Maleficent vanished. Meanwhile, the evil witch had captured Prince Eric, and had chained him deep in her dungeon. But the fairies, freed him with their magic and sent him to save Selene, saying that the princess waiting in that tower was in fact the girl he had met in the forest-“ “Wait, how did they know that Prince Eric was in love with Princess Selene? She never told him her name, she didn’t even know her own name! And how did the fairies know he was the one that the princess liked? She never told them what he looked like! And how did the fairies know Maleficent had caught him?” Beth asked, this again, had not occurred to Link, “They…uh…sensed it in his heart.” Link said, eager to get on with the story “But Prince Eric did not escape the dungeon unnoticed, and Maleficent, seeing his purpose, used her magic to grow a thorny forest around Selene’s castle, still, it was no match for Eric, who hacked through the tendrils with his sword. Enraged by his actions, Maleficent transformed herself into a monstrous dragon and challenged Prince Eric. In his final effort, he flung his sword at Maleficent, and it buried itself in the dragon’s evil heart. Maleficent fell to her death and peace returned to the kingdom. Eric raced to the tower where his love, Selene, his love, lay sleeping. Gently, he kissed her, and slowly, Selene awoke in the arms of the stranger she had met in the forest. And so, everyone lived happily ever after…” “Yuck!” Malo sighed, Beth turned about and glared at him, “What’s so gross?” she asked accusingly, “Duh! They KISSED!” Malo moaned. “Ok, you’ve had your story, now a deal’s a deal, everyone in bed.” Link commanded, watching as the children crawled toward the top of the bed and snuggled under the covers. Link leaned over and kissed each of them on the forehead before he put out the lamp. “Link?” Colin asked, he turned at the doorway, “Yes?” “What happens if our parents don’t come back?” he asked, Link limped back over to the bed, “Your parents will come back, but if they didn’t, though they will, and even though three out of four of you are unruly brats, I’d keep you. Now go to sleep, everything will be fine. Goodnight.” Link carefully closed the door to the bedroom, Ilia was standing there, “What are you doing up?” Link asked, Ilia smiled at him, “Listening to the story.” Link began to blush, “Oh, you…uh…heard all that?” he asked, running a hand through his sandy blonde hair, “Most of it, you did good Link.” She said, leaning forward and kissing him. “We should go to bed too, it’s gonna be a long day tomorrow…”